Scheme of work
The teaching element of Practising Science course is designed to help students learn the science (and engineering) practices they need for their projects. We are developing a scheme of work to help teachers plan all the lesson of the Year 10 and Year 11 course.
Cognitive demand
One of the main jobs of the scheme is to address the big increase in cognitive demand from typical GCSE required practicals to students taking ownership of the investigation process. GCSE practical exam questions mainly test recognising individual skills like reading a graph in a familiar context, which is a fairly low cognitive demand if well practised. A student investigation process requires decision-making at each stage about a less familiar situation, and holding many elements in working memory together, which is a high cognitive demand.
The syllabus will provide structure to support and scaffold this transition.
Teaching scientific competences
The teaching syllabus sets out 3 scientific competences:
- investigations
- design
- research.
The course will teach each one systematically, using a process cycle that reflects the stages scientists and engineers typically work through. At each stage, 2-4 relevant skills relevant will be taught, through case studies and applications.
